But at Pacific Arts Movement, an organization dedicated to bringing Asian cinema to San Diego, crazy dreams often become realities.

Pacific Arts Movement, or Pac-Arts, began as a film festival in 2000 and over the years has launched several innovative programs, the most recent being Drive-By Cinema, which is where the mail trucks come in.

Drive-By Cinema at Space 4 Art

Beginning last February, Drive-By Cinema has cruised throughout the city in a converted truck, screening films wherever they can. By projecting movies onto the sides of buildings or their own built-in screen, Drive-By Cinema hopes to blend the art of cinema with ordinary settings of everyday life.

“We wanted to design a program where we could invite people to reinvent film exhibition with us,” says Brian Hu, artistic director at Pac-Arts. “The idea is that there are no rules.”

Viewers can eat, talk, blow bubbles or bring their dog and can choose to stop for just a minute or watch the whole film.

As historic neighborhood movie theaters are now few and far between, the people behind Drive-By Cinema feel that they can serve as “ghosts of movie theaters past,” Hu says.

Rather than going to regions in San Diego where moviegoing is typical, Drive-By Cinema caters to people who would otherwise rarely see a film in a theater setting. In neighborhoods like City Heights, National City and Linda Vista, the goal is not simply to show movies but also to celebrate the history and culture of a place. Thus the films organizers choose to screen are very intentional and specific toward a certain neighborhood or group of people.

Drive-By Cinema held one event this past spring at a skateboard shop on El Cajon Boulevard called Route 44 where they screened skateboarding clips, something rather atypical of an Asian arts movement — which really speaks to what Drive-By Cinema is all about, sharing film with the people, all people.

Inspiring, informational and wholesome, all films, shorts and clips Drive-By Cinema screens are independent and many are locally made, coming out of Pac-Arts’ educational programs and annual film festival. Another plus, all the events are free to the public, thanks to funding from the James Irvine Foundation.

Pac-Arts Executive Director Lee Ann Kim says the grant they received is what really makes the program special and unique.

“When we take money out of the equation, things operate differently and they become more authentic and fun,” Kim says.

Apart from screening films, Drive-By Cinema always gives out freshly made popcorn and may have a photo booth, a karaoke competition, or even a dragon dance. The organization is always seeking new ways to engage with the community and make the program unique.

“It’s exciting to note that no one else is doing something like this,” Kim says. “Everyone thinks we’re wonderfully strange.”